We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Wednesday, June 17. 2015

A few suggestions from a reader on what things to promote to reduce material poverty around the world:

work ethicshowing up on timefrugalitysavinginvesting for profitenforceable contracts freely enteredindependent arbitration of disputesrule of law in which all persons are equalsecure private property rightsgood education to high standards

All the same, I believe the Pope' s job is to worry about spiritual poverty, not material. St. Francis took a vow of poverty and rejection of secular matters to assist his spiritual development and preaching mission.

the pope isn't interested in amateur hour. as I explained to the other naive reader,

arbitration clauses in contracts are the guaranteed way to crush the little guy. if you're some dude in Kansas I could force you to arbitrate a claim in Los Angeles using Chinese arbitration rules under Delaware commercial law. I've done it.

no one wants contracts to be strictly enforceable. its a hallmark of anglo-american jurisprudence that contracts may be broken because that can be the most efficient allocation of resources.

and...

secure property rights. this really depends on what the property is and how secure they are supposed to be. I'm reasonably sure that most readers are opposed to racially restrictive covenants in deeds, IP rights that never end or slavery itself, as is practiced in many parts of the world.

I'm reminded of this passage from Dalrymple, Theodore (2010-10-19). 'Life At The Bottom' book in an anecdote regarding a patient in an abusive relationship who showed up needing treatment, pregnant, etc. Both the man and woman had serial illegitimate children some of whom the cared for and other they did not support.

Dalrymple spoke with a visiting doctor from Madras who, having seen real poverty, made a very succinct assessment. One that identifies an area, the Pope and other religious leaders should devote their time, combatting the moral, spiritual, and cultural poverty of the underclass. Capitalism can help the economic poor, religion could help the moral and spiritual impoverished. And if they really believe free markets to be evil, they could work to temper the evil while facilitating the benefits rather than promoting their current spiritual and moral deficient secular ideologies.

QUOTE:

What had her experience taught her?

‘I don’t want to think about it. The Housing’ll charge me for the damage, and I ain’t got the money. I’m depressed, doctor; I’m not happy. I want to move, to get away from him.’ Later in the day, feeling a little lonely, she telephoned her ex-boyfriend, and he visited her.

I discussed the case with the doctor who had recently arrived from Madras and who felt he had entered an insane world. Not in his wildest dreams had he imagined it could be like this. There was nothing to compare with it in Madras. He asked me what would happen next to the happy couple. ‘They’ll find her a new flat. They’ll buy her new furniture, television, and refrigerator, because it’s unacceptable poverty in this day and age to live without them. They’ll charge her nothing for the damage to her old flat, because she can’t pay anyway, and it wasn’t she who did it. He will get away scot-free. Once she’s installed in her new flat to escape from him, she’ll invite him there, he’ll smash it up again, and then they’ll find her somewhere else to live. There is, in fact, nothing she can do that will deprive her of the state’s obligation to house, feed, and entertain her.’

I asked the doctor from Madras if poverty was the word he would use to describe this woman’s situation. He said it was not: that her problem was that she accepted no limits to her own behaviour, that she did not fear the possibility of hunger, the condemnation of her own parents or neighbours, or God. In other words, the squalor of England was not economic but spiritual, moral, and cultural.

Surely, those with critical thinking skills can see the corollary with the underclass (not necessarily economically poor, nor are the economically poor necessarily underclass) in the US?

JK, thanks for sharing. Dalrymple (Athony Daniels) is very insightful because of his work with the poor and those in prisons. He recently wrote something similar for the Hillsdale College Imprimis monthly https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/author/anthonydaniels/
I would recommend. More people need to read it.

However, Progressives will not because it would have to come with a trigger warning and they would need to go to a comfort room to deal with the negative impact such truth has on their shallow world view. They are devoid of reality. Considering the recent Jenner issue, reality is relative as long as someone feels good.

In terms of the Pope, as a Catholic I admire Francis for his awakening of the spiritual element of life and for his demonstration of the need to humble ourselves. However, he is moving into potentially dangerous territory with advocating the need for some form of redistribution of wealth, which Progressives will latch on to with full vigor. I believe a Heritage Foundation or another similar institution estimated that since the start of Johnson's War on Poverty $22 trillion dollars have redistributed in American society, and yet we still have poverty.

As Jesus said, 'the poor will always be with us". As Dalrymple pointed out the crisis is not economic but spiritual, moral, and cultural.

The other "naive" reader ? Really?
The only thing you've proved during the course of this discussion about the Pope, Christianity (topics surely at the top of the list for most Jews) Jesus, and the meaning of Matthew Chapter 25 (and all that based on your discussions hanging around with some priest in a band) is that besides being a boorish faux intellectual, you're a complete asshole.

Donnie's best feature is conflating a manipulated effect with prior morality - used completely arbitrarily and opportunistically - and then claiming the high ground. Because principle. Because "you people".

The pope is an Argentinian whose formative years occurred during the rule of the Perons, Juan and Evita, and their brand of socialism that gave lip service to serving the poor, but also lined their own pockets and was lucrative in political ways. Peron's socialism and eventual slide into fascism caused massive economic problems for the country that they never fully recovered from, and the re-adoption of that form of idiot governing and caused yet another slide.

A hat tip to Charles Murray who has talked at length about traditional values. Those cultural strategies that are have are successful and adaptive would under historical circumstances prevail by attrition. It seems to me that Dr. Murray has been making this case for some time now. I don’t want to put words in his mouth , but, my take is that the “ elites”(does not include celebs) who, by being non judgemental, cheer-lead for the antisocial and self destructive behavior of the lower orders (aka the chumps), while they eschew those same behaviors for themselves and for their families.

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